


and there was no one left

by tzushi



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Max has a Nightmare, Mentions of Death, i love max so much she deserves the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-29 00:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20072938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tzushi/pseuds/tzushi
Summary: Max can’t get one peaceful night without being plagued by nightmares from the guilt and trauma of what happened to Arcadia Bay.





	and there was no one left

**Author's Note:**

> i’m sorry if the characters are a bit ooc! i’ve only recently joined the fandom and i’m trying to figure out their characters writing-wise!

Max opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, letting her vision adjust to the light streaming into the room. She looked around and found herself sitting on the couch in her dorm room.

It was strange. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep. She didn’t remember moving to sit on the couch, either.

With a sigh, she pushed herself up to stand, stretching her arms up as she glanced around the room.

Something felt off. That was her immediate thought as she looked around. Everything was the same, though. Lisa was sitting in her window, looking perfectly green healthy. There were some papers sprawled out on her desk- homework that she had never gotten around to finishing. Her bed was made, her polaroids all hung up on the wall beside it.

One polaroid, though, caught her eye. Where she once hung the photo of the blue butterfly from the bathroom, there was now a black polaroid. Absolute nothingness, as if she had made the rookie mistake of taking a photo while completely covering the lens.

Max walked over to the polaroid, gently pulling it from the wall as she examined it closer. When did she take that picture? And why on earth would she hang it up?

She felt a strange tugging feeling on her gut as she looked at it, bringing it closer. She heard a faint laugh echoing around the room, strangely sounding like her own voice.

When she realized what was happening, it was too late. Her stomach felt like it dropped as there was a sudden flash before she was plunged into darkness.

“Wh- what the hell...?” she quietly muttered, looking around the darkness. “Where am I?”

She took a few steps forward, her footsteps echoing around the empty room. She let out a small sigh, a feeling if dread building up in her body.

“Hello...?” she cautiously called, her voice getting carried around and bouncing back at her. “Anyone home?”

“Maxine Caulfield,” that same, laughing voice from before called, “About time you showed up here.”

Hesitant, Max looked around the room. She couldn’t see anybody, but that wasn’t quite surprising due to the absolutely darkness of the room.

“Who are you?” Max slowly asked.

“Who am I? Who do you think I am?” her own voice mocking replied, letting out a sour laugh.

Blowing out a sigh and running a hand through her hair, Max spoke up. “What do you want?”

Ignoring her question, the voice continued to speak. “Man, you really fucked up this time, Max,” they said. “You had the choice to save either Arcadia Bay and Chloe, and what did you do? You let the only girl you’ve ever loved die. She trusted you, Maxine. More than anything. And you let her die.”

Max furrowed her eyebrows. “W- what? What are you talking about?” She didn’t let Chloe die. She couldn’t have. Chloe... was her everything.

“Who are you going to talk to, Max? She was the only one who knew. The only one willing to listen to your bullshit. And you let her die,” they laughed, almost psychotically. “After abandoning her for five years, you just let her die, after everything the two of you have been through. And now what will you do?

“Nobody will understand,” the voice taunted and Max swore she could hear the smirk in their tone. “They’ll just think, _‘Oh, Maxine Caulfield finally lost her mind! She’s mourning a girl she barely even knew, a girl she hasn’t talked to for five years. She’s freaking out over things that never happened’_. Jefferson drugging you, Kate jumping off of the roof, Chloe dying over and over and over again. Max fucking Caulfield, you’re a lunatic. It’s too bad you killed the only person who would believe you.”

“No!” Max shouted back, clenching her fist. “I saved her! Chloe is alive!” she rebutted, because that was the only thing she could fight back with. Everything else, it was true. They would all think she had finally lost her mind if she spouted the things she’s been through.

“You think that’s any better?” the voice asked with a scoff. “You’re so fucking selfish. You saves Chloe Price, you went against her wishes to save Arcadia Bay, and instead you killed so many innocent people. Families. Children. Kate, Joyce, Warren, Dana, all these people who trusted you- you just let them die so you could be happy.”

Max felt tears pricked her eyes. “I couldn’t let her die,” she weakly argued. “Chloe... she’s my best friend. My girlfriend. I couldn’t let her die, not when I know about all the suffering she’s been through.”

“What about the suffering of everyone else? Kate and that video that drove her to suicide, Warren and his unrequited love for you, Joyce having to lose her husband, David never getting to hear that his step-daughter loves him. Everyone suffers, Maxine. And you let them die.”

Max felt tears run down her face as she clenched her fists. “If I could save them all, I would! You don’t know half the shit I’ve been through! I would sacrifice myself if I could, but I promised Chloe I wouldn’t use my powers again. I can’t... I can’t lie to her.”

The voice scoffed once more. “You are a murderer, Maxine Caulfield. And you have to live with that.”

There was a bright flash of light, and suddenly she was back in her photography classroom, staring down at her camera as a the polaroid rolled out of the top. She felt her heart drop and looked up, seeing the classroom was devoid of people. Except for one figure, she noticed, staring right back at her. 

Kate.

“Max,” the usually kind and bright girl greeted with narrowed eyes and a tone of anger.

“Kate!” Max exclaimed, instantly standing up and rushing to the small girl’s desk. She wrapped her arms around Kate’s figure, squeezing her eyes shut. “You’re okay! You’re alive!”

Kate let out sour laugh, so uncharacteristic for her. “No I’m not,” she hissed in response to both of her statements, and Max felt a drop of water hit her head, followed by another. Another drop. And suddenly it was pouring rain.

Max furrowed her eyebrows as she opened her eyes, taking a step back. They were on the roof again, Kate standing on the ledge.

“You didn’t ‘save me’, Max,” she spat, clenching her jaw. “You let me jump off. You _made_ me jump! And just when I thought we were friends again, you sacrificed me. You sacrificed _everyone_, and for what? You’re own happiness?”

It was one thing hearing this from a disembodied voice, but to hear this from Kate, her own friend, it hurt more. She knew she couldn’t argue.

Tears pricked Max’s eyes. “I... Kate, I’m sorry,” she weakly whispered but Kate only laughed, shaking her head side to side.

“No you’re not. You know that you’re not,” she said, and then she leaned backwards. Max screamed out her name, running towards the ledge and looking over. To her surprise, there was nothing. A void of blackness instead of the ground.

Hands placed themselves on her back, and with a strong shove, she fell over the ledge and into oblivion. Her stomach did flips as she fell and she shut her eyes in fear.

With a thud, her body landed in something hard. Behind closed eyelids she saw a flash and hesitantly opened her eyes.

The dark room.

Jefferson stood in front of her with a sickening smirk, holding a camera up to his eyes.

“Perfect, Max,” he whispered, and suddenly she felt so sluggish. She could barely keep her eyelids open, she couldn’t move her body.

“No,” she muttered, but of course he ignored her, taking another photo. “Stop...”

“Perfect positioning. Don’t move a muscle.”

_Click_.

A bright flash, causing Max to squint. 

“So perfect,” Jefferson smiled which caused shivers to run down Max’s spine. She felt nauseous just hearing his voice.

_Click_.

The flash was brighter this time. Instead of fading away, it only grew brighter and brighter until Max had to shut her eyes and weakly turn her head away.

“I can’t believe you,” a familiar voice muttered, full of anger and resentment. Her heart ached at that voice. Opening her eyes, she saw the blue-haired girl standing in front of her, arms crossed.

Sudden winds started whipping their hair and clothes around, rain pelting down once again.

“W- what...?” Max stuttered out, looking at her girlfriend in confusion. “What did I do...?”

“You could’ve went back in time, you could’ve saved my dad and you _didn’t_?” she asked, furrowing her eyes. “And why, all because I’m not there? The world doesn’t revolve around you, Maxine!” Max winced at the use of her full name. “I would much rather spend five years with my dad and be paralyzed then have to suffer through all of this shit! But you won’t go back, you won’t save him, because you don’t want to lose me? Have you ever considered that I don’t want to be with you?”

That felt like an arrow through the chest to Max. She opened her mouth to speak, however she couldn’t find any words to say. She could only stare at her best friend in sadness, shock, pain, silence.

Chloe forced out a pained laugh, shaking her head side to side. “Fuck you, Caulfield. Maybe if you stopped putting yourself before others, everyone else would still be alive. You _deserve_ this pain, Max. All of it.”

Chloe spun around, looking at the tornado behind them, the storm that was slowly approaching Arcadia Bay.

“You’re too late now, Max,” she stated, voice almost inaudible over the rain. “You can’t go back anymore. Now you’ve lost me _and _Arcadia Bay. Way to go.”

Chloe turned around, walking away without another word. She shoved Max out of the way with her shoulder and left, walking down the hill and leaving Max alone with the storm.

“Goodbye forever, Caulfield,” she called over her shoulder. Everything began to fade away to black, Max’s eyes widening. It suddenly sounded like her ears were full of cotton, the sound of rain and her own footsteps growing quieter and quieter by the second.

Finally, she forced out a strangled call of, “Chloe!”, wanting to chase after the girl. Her legs felt like lead and she could barely move them, but she would try her damn hardest to catch up to Chloe if she could. “Wait! Please, you can’t leave me,” she begged, voice cracking. The darkness continued to crawl into the world, terrifying Max as she chased after Chloe’s fading figure.

Her knees buckled underneath and Max fell into the muddy grass below, tears finally pouring from her eyes.

“You’re all I have,” Max whispered, a sob forcing its way out of her mouth.

The darkness finally took over, all of the sound fading away until she was left in dark silence.

Max’s eyes shot open and she was met with the sight of darkness once more. She wanted to move but her body was paralyzed, glue to the bed underneath her. Faintly, she heard the sound of a clock ticking. She heard breathing coming from somewhere around her, but she was too panicked to figure out where. 

The darkness scared her. She couldn’t move her head, she couldn’t look around no matter how desperately she wanted to. Where was she? Panic quickly rose in her body and she felt her body tremble.

Unpleasant memories began to float around her mind and her throat grew dry, eyes burning with unshed tears. She took in a shaky breath, thinking about Jefferson. The things he did to her. She felt the phantom prick in her neck of the drugs he gave her and she took in a shaky gasp, wanting to cry out and scream. A sob forced way out of her mouth, fingers twitching.

She felt arms wrap around her waist from the side and almost screamed, but her throat felt so raw and her lungs were burning from how much she was heaving, trying to draw in as much oxygen as she could.

(When did she start breathing so heavily? She hadn’t noticed her hyperventilation until now.)

“Max,” a voice from her side gently called, and suddenly it was as if all the panic and fear in her body escaped her. That voice was the only calming thing she had, the only thing that could ground her. And slowly, she felt the arms help her sit up, leaning her against the headboard of the bed. Her body was still trembling, though not as heavily as before. She felt her body loosen, the tension and stiffness leaving her. She gently craned her neck to the side to look at the person beside her. As soon as her eyes landed on them, the floodgates open and tears started pouring from her eyes as she threw her arms around their shoulders.

“Chloe,” she choked out between sobs, “Fuck, Chloe, I thought I- I thought I _lost _you! You were gone! I just let you die on the bathroom floor, a- and I couldn’t talk to anyone because that week of our lives never happened. No one would believe me! They would think I lost my mind after seeing that happen to you...”

Chloe had a worried look plastered on her face, forehead creased in worry. “I’m right here, Max,” she whispered, voice strangely calm and warm. And that calmness made Max feel so much better, it made that small sliver of panic remaining in her body fade away. “I’m here, and I’m never leaving. I promise.”

Part of those words made Max want to sob even harder for reasons she couldn’t explain. Maybe because she had witnessed Chloe leave so many times: the bathroom, the train tracks, getting shot by that fucking maniac in the graveyard. But she didn’t. She didn’t want to keep crying. She just wanted to have one normal night, one night that wasn’t plagued with nightmares about what happened in the other timelines, about what _would _happen if she did sacrifice Chloe. Nightmares about the things that really did happen in this timeline, like letting an entire town of people die out of her own pure selfishness.

She hugged Chloe tighter, forcing herself to hold in the rest of her sobs. Chloe gently rubbed Max’s back, whispering things in her ear that Max could barely focus on, but they made her feel so grounded, so comfortable. They almost made her forget about her nightmare. Almost.

Chloe gently pulled away from the embrace and Max instantly missed her warmth, her closeness. The blue-haired girl gently placed her hands on the sides of Max’s face, examining her with worried eyes.

“I love you, Max,” she quietly stated, and Max’s heart fluttered at the confidence in her voice, the way she sounded so sure of her words even though Max knew she was such a huge burden to the girl. “You’re my everything. You saved me countless times. And now it’s my turn to repay you. So I will never, /ever/ leave you, okay? I will never let you get hurt again.”

Max gently grabbed Chloe’s wrists, eyes full of tears and worry. But in there, there was also trust. Love.

“Cross your heart?” Max gently asked, voice shaking.

Chloe offered the girl a warm smile before leaning forwards, pressing her lips against Max’s forehead. “Cross my heart,” she responded as she pulled away. She moved so she was sitting beside the girl and Max quickly grabbed her hand, leaning her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder. Chloe smiled warmly, leaning her head against Max’s.

“I love you, Chloe,” Max quietly whispered, shutting her eyes as a feeling of tiredness overtook her body. She snuggled closer to Chloe. 

“I love you too, Maximum Bravery,” Chloe responded, bringing a small smile to Max’s face as a giggle slipped out from her lips. Chloe shut her eyes as well, letting out a small sigh of content. “The bravest, strongest girl in the world.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <3 please feel free to leave a comment, i’d love fo receive constructive criticism!


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